Combined filter and water separator



May 5, 1925. 1,536,911

w. w. NUGENT COMBINED FILTER AND WATER SEPARATOR Original Filed June 23,1916 2 Sheets-Sheet l May 5, 1925.

w. w. NUGENT COMBINED FILTER AND WATER SEPARATOR Original Filed June 23,1916 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 JTZ 5. 64

Patented May 5, 1925.

barren orrics.

WILLIAM w. nodular, or onions-o, memo-1s.-

COMBINED rrn'rnn warns. serene-Ton.

Original application filed June 23, 1916, Serial No. 105,350. pividedand this application filed July 2, 1920. Serial No. 393,5?6.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, lVILLiAM W. NUGnN'r,

a citizen of the United Statesresiding at Chicago, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Combined Filters and l Vater Se )arators,= of which the following isspecification.

. This application is adivisional'application of Serial No. 105,350,filedJune 23, 1916, for combined filter and water separator, issued July5, 1921 as United States Letters Patent No. 1,383,470.

My invention relates to apparatus for re moving impurities fromlubricating oil and also for separating water from lubricating oil, andthe principal object of the present invention is to provide an improveddevice of this nature which is made up of detachable sections tofacilitate transportation and the assembly thereof at the place of use,such improved device being simple in construction, easily accessible asto various parts and effective, efficient and automatic in operation.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novelfeatures and combinations of elements beingset forth in the appendedclaims.

Referring to the accompanying draw ings- F 1 is a front view of a filtermechanism embodying my invention with portions broken away to exposeunderlying parts and with a door of the construction open 2 is a centralvertical section of the same; a

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section taken on line 33 of Fig. 2; 40 Fig. 1 is afragmental section showing some of the parts arranged difierently fromthe arrangement shown in Fig. 1; and

5 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showing the arrai'lgement of theparts in tit.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be seen that the base of thecombined water separator and filter comprises upright legs 7 of sheetmetal which are riveted at 8 to a baseplate 0.

The sheet metal legs 1" are provid d with upper extensions 10 to formangular recess s into which lit the lower corners of the large reservoir11. This reservoir is therefore firmly. though detachably supported oning or otherwise.

the base member, being prevented from movement laterally therefrom bythe upward extensions 10.

The front wall of the reservoir 11 may also be provided with a gageglass 14 connected up, as shown in Fig. 1, or, in any other well-knownmanner. 0

In the upper portion of the reservoir 11 I prefer to provide arectangular opening back from the 11ppe110rWa1d edge so as to leave arecessed shelf 15 which forms an oil-collecting pan. In the rectangularopening in the upper side of the reservoir 11 is fitted a dependingrectangular 17 of the filter casing 18. Into the upper open end of thefilter casing 18 is fitted a depending flange 20 of the waterseparator'casing 21. In a similar manner into the upper rectangularopening of the water separator casing 21, is fitted a dependingfiang'eQS" of the filling casing 241. a

, It will thus be observed that the combined water separator and filteriscomposed of five principal parts which are detachable from each otherand can therefore very easily be transported. However,- the constructionis such that thelsaid principal parts may easily be' assembled and whenstacked one on top of the other they are held together with sufiicientfirmness for all practical purposes. If desired", the said fiveprincipal parts or any two of them may be permanently connected togetherby solder- I I prefer, however, to make the parts detachable tofacilitate transportation, assembly and replacement of the accidentallyinjured parts.

As shown in Fig. 1, the filling casing 24 is. closed on its upper sideand provided with a hinged cover plate 25 to facilitate cleaning. Thelubricating oil which is to be cleaned and from which the water is to beseparated may be introduced through an opening 26 in the upper side ofthe filling casing 24. This opening 26 may be screwthreaded' on itsinterior to receive the screwthreaded end of the pipe extending from acirculating lubricating system, not shown. The lubricant introducedthrough the filling opening 20 flows over the upper surface of the plate2'? and then through the reticul atcd or perforatedmetal projection ordam 28 which extends between the lateral walls of the filling casing24'. The lubricant then passes to the bottom 29 and through the par--tition of reticulated or perforated metal to screen the larger foreignsubstances in the lubricant. From the enclosed compartment 31 thelubricating oil, together with the water and fine particles ofimpurities, passes down the vertical pipe 32 into the horizontal pipe 33which is open at its ends, thus introducing the lubricant into the waterseparator chamber 34 near its lateral. walls.

In the filling casing 24: I provide a partition 35 across one of thefront corners so that when the lubricant in the filling chamber 36exceeds in depth the height of the partition 35 the lubricant willoverflow into said corner and then be conducted away in any desirablemanner.

In order to facilitate the cleaning of the enclosed compartment 31 Iprovide a pipe 39 extending from an opening in the upper wall of thecon'ipartment 31 to an opening 40 in the upper surface of the fillingcasing. The opening L0 is preferably screw-threaded and provided with ascrew-threaded plug fl-1. hen the plug 41 is removed a bent wire may beintroduced through the pipe 39 into the compartment 31 to scrape thesediment from the corners in the compartment 31.

I prefer to place the opening 40 and the vertical pipe 39 in verticalalinement with the vertical pipe 32 so that when the plug ll is removedand a straight wire inserted through the pipe 39 it may be used to cleanout sediment collected in the pipe 32, and by using a wire of.sutficient flexibility the wire may be extended through the branch pipes33 so as to n'iaintain free flow of the lubricant from the fillingchamber into the water separating chamber.

Before introducing any lubricant into the filling chamber it ispreferable to partially fill the water separating chamber 3-14: withwater, approximately two-thirds full. Then when the lubricant isintroduced into the chamber 34 the oil will rise to the top and thewater separate therefrom, but not until the combined depth of the waterand the oil is sutlicient will any oil flow into the filteringapparatus. In the center of the water separating chamberihl, shown in 1,is located a vertical pipe 4C3 which is open at its upper end andcommunicates with the filter casing 18 at its lower end. 'l'lhercfore.when the depth of the combined water and oil exceeds the length of thevertical pipe 43 the flowing oil will flow down the pipe 43 into theupper end of the filter casing 18.

Alongside the vertical pipe is located a sheet metal receiver .414: withan intermediate partition specially constructed for a particularpurpose. This partition divides the receiver 44 into two compartments 46and 47. The compartment 46 is open at both its lower and upper ends,while the compartment 4:7 is closed at its lower end and open only atits upper end, thus forming a cup rectangular in cross-section. No oilcan enter either of the compartments 4:6 or .417 because the receiver M,as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, extends a sutficient distance above thevertical pipe 43 to prevent any oil from flowing over the upper edges ofthe receiver 14. The water, however, enters the lower open end of thecompartment -16 and er;- tends upwardly therein tending to reach a depthto overflow the partition as into the cup 47. If the partition 45 had ahorizontal straight edge at its upper end there would be considerabletendency for capillary attraction in the corners to elevate the waterhigher than desired and thus tend to empty the contents of theseparating chamber 3t not only of the water therein, but also of the oilultimately. This tendency may be augmented particularly when theconnections are such that a syphoning action mi ght continue the flowstarted by the capillary attraction at the corners of the compartment 46adjacent the partition 45. I, therefore, prefer to provide a curved orarcuate edge 48 for the upper end of the partition 45, as shown in Fig.2. This will prevent any overflow of a liquid by reason of capillaryattraction at the corners. The lowermost edge of the curve 48 isarranged below the upper end of the pipe 43 only a small distance;preferably, in practice, about a quarter of an inch, so as to economizein the total quantity of lubricant, and also to hasten the waterseparating operation thereoff. By having a film of oil on top of thewater of no greater thickness than is nccessary to prevent" the waterfrom flowing through the vertical pipe 43 it will be seen that the oilwill be very quickly introduced into the filtering casing 18 after ithas been introduced into the fillingcasing.

The receiver 414 is preferably supported near the center of the waterseparating chamber by means of the pipe 49 which is rigidly secured at50 to one of the walls of the water separating chamber. The pipe 4:9communicates with the upper portion of the cup 47 and is connected tothe elbow joint 51 which directs the water through the sight feed 52into the waste-pipe It will thus be evident that when water passes intothe lower end of the compartment 4:6 or t over the partition 45 it fillsthe cup until it overflows through the pipe l?) into the waste-pige 53.This operation goes on auto matically as more and more lubricantintroduced into the filling casing.

To facilitate the separation of the water from the oil and to facilitatethe flow of the oil, heating pipes 54: may be arranged in the waterseparating chamber, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The heating devices arepreferably supported from the front wall of the water separating chamber21 without interfering with the supply pipe 33, or with the Hill waterchambers 46, 47, or the intake oil pipe 43. may be introduced at 55, andafter circulating through the pipes 5 1 withdrawn at 56. lit should beparticularly observed that the intake oil pipe 43 and the water chambers4:6 and 47 are preferably located approximately in the center of thewater separating chan'iber 3 1 so that when the entire combined waterseparator and filter is not on a level the operation of separating thewater will not be seriously interfered with. 'lilting movements withincertain limits of the entire apparatus away from a horizontal positionof the separating chamber will not alter the relation between the uppercentral edge of the partition 15 and the upper end of the pipe48 toprevent proper separation of the water while still maintainingefficiency. For the sake of efficiency it is preferable to reduce thethickness of the film of oil on top of the water in the separatingchamber and this is accomplished not only by having the curved edge -18.but also by centering the pipe 43, together with the receiver 44-. Or,the farther the receiver 44 and the pipe 43 are separated and the lessthey are centralized in the water separating chamber 21 the greater thevnecessity for exact leveling of the entire apparatus if efliciency is tobe maintained.

Filter casing 18 is provided with a series of filter sections over whichthe oil, after the water has been separated therefrom, may flowsuccessively. These sections are disposed one above the other so thatoil leaving one section will drop by gravity onto the next section. InFig. 1 I. have indicated: these sections as being inclined, and in Fig.4;- I have indicated them as being horizontal. From this it will beapparent that they may be arranged in various manners, but should besoarranged that the oil drops from one section to the next below. 1?preferably arrange them in somewhat staggered relation, that is, everyother section engages one endwallof casing 18, and the other alternatesections engage the other, as clearly indicated in Figs. 1 and 4.

ln order that the sections may be readily accessible I provide a door57, hinged-as at as shown in Fig. 1. The door is provided with latches59' for holding it closed. \Vith the door covering the entire front ofcausing- 18 any one of the filter sections can be removed withoutdisturbing any ofthe others. i I

The sections are substantially alike in form and construction. Eachsection rests on a ledge 60, which is indicated as being generallyUi-shaped, and of substantially rigid material. Each. ledge has one sidesecured to the rear wall 61 its central por tion secured to. one sidewall; 62 and its ends secured to the other side Wall 62 of the Theheating medium, such as steam,

casing 18 by means of rivets, or, in any other desirable manner, so thatthe open end of the frame is at one side wall 62. T he trays are shorterthan the width of the casing 18 providing a space between one of theside walls 62 at the open end of the ttshaped ledge and the adjacentedge of such tray to permit the free flow of lubri- *ant to the nexttray below. Each section or tray comprises a substantially rectangularframe madeup of any suitable material, preferably metal, and tapered atone end slightly, such as indicated at 6 1 in Figs. 3 and 5. I in theframe :3 is a reticulate metal or screen 63 forming the bottom of thetray. Formed on the frame 63 are a plurality of points or hooks 65 whichserve as means for holding a filter cloth 66 in position in the tray. Onthe ledges 60 I provide abutments 67 at the tapered portiens of saidframes to hold the latter back against the side wall 62 and maintainthem inthe positions indicated in the drawings.

The frameswhich are arranged inclined preferably have front and rearvertical walls 68 and end walls 69 at the upper ends thereof. The otherends 70 are left open so that the oil running down from the top of thecloth can run over onto the next tray below. i

l have indicated the trays which are arranged horizontally, (see Figs. 4and 5,) formed like the other trays already mentioned. except at theopen end of the firstnientioned trays I provide upstanding walls 71which are somewhat shorter than the walls and 69. lVith thisconstruction the oil' can accumulate on top of the cloth until,

it reaches the height of wall 71 when it will run over onto the nexttray below. Of course. as long asthe cloths 66 are clean the oil willrun through them, but should they become clogged then the oil willaccumulate, as above mentioned, and runover wall 7'1. it will beapparent, however, that the open-ended trays can be used when arranged"horizontally, and that the trays having the, short walls 71 can be usedinclined", when so desired.

Since the t try isprovided with vertical flanges 68 at the back andfront portion and with avertical connecting flange 69 at the upper end,the tray directs flowing oil over the filtering cloth out of the loweropen end of the tray. Therefore, the cleaning of the oil does not dependin any way on sedimentation, 'nor does it depend altogether on filteringthrough the filtering cloth because it has been found in practice thatwhen the oil ispermitted to gradually flow over the filtering nraterialmany of; the impurities adhere to the filtering material and are takenout of the oil which are not taken out by filtering tl'iroughthefilteringcloth. In order to have rapid cleaning of. the oil the porosityof the filtering material should not be such as to make the process tooslow. I have, therefore, found that by combining the through filteringaction with the flowing action I clean the oil of the larger particlesby tl e through filtering action while maintaining the entire cleaningoperation at a rapid rate and therefore maintaining the eiiiciency ofthe entire apparatus which is particularly important where considerableoil is being used in a circulating lubricating system and the large tank11 is the source of supply and the oil is constantly drawn from theopening 13 into the lubricating circulating system.

While the trays for supporting the filtering cloths 66 may be secured infixed position in the fi tering casing 18 I prefer to make themremovable not only for the renewal of the filtering cloth but also toprevent interference with the continuation of the cleaning and.filtering operation when one tray is thus removed. If one tray isremoved at a time for renewal of its filtering cloth the cleaning andfiltering operation need not be interfered with, particularly when thefiltering sections are sufficient in number. The filtering cloths may beused repeatedly after cleaning them in each instance, preferably bysoaking them in kerosene, and subsequently boiling them in a mixture ofsoap and water.

However, if desired, new filtering cloths may be used for all renewals,but in any event the cloths should be preferably so cut as to fill theentire width and length of each tray and fit close to the upper end ofeach tray so that substantially all of the oil entering the upper end ofthe filtering casing 18' will pass through and over the filtering clothsin succession or serially.

The parts of this application showing and describing means forseparating water and oil, and the parts showing and describing means forseparating foreign materials from the water and oil before said waterand oil are separated, are not claimed in this application but describedand claimed in my United States Letters Patent No. 1,383,479, dated July5, 1921, for combined filter and water separator.

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in thedetails and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit andscope of my invention as defined by the claims hereto appended, and Iwish therefore not to be restricted to the precise construction hereindisclosed.

I claim:

1. In filtering apparatus, the combination with an upright receptaclehaving an opening on one vertical side thereof, of a plurality ofsuperposed spaced-apart filtering elements each having overflow means,and means for supporting said filtering elements in said receptacle tocause the oil to filter by gravity serially through said elements and tooverflow from one element to the next below.

2.111 filtering apparatus, the combination with a receptacle having anopening in one vertical side thereof, of a plurality of filteringelements each provided with filtering material and an overflow means,and mechanism for supporting said filtering elements in said receptaclefor accessibility through said opening and in superposed spaced-apartrelation to cause filtering serially by gravity and. overflow from onefiltering element to that next below.

3. A combined water separating and cleaning device comprising filling,separat ing, filtering and storing chambers, a door for the entire frontof the casing of the filtering chamber to permit inspection of saidfiltering chamber, and a collecting pan shelf at the bottom and in frontof the door. v

In filtering apparatus, the combination with a receptacle, of aplurality of U-shaped supporting frames rigidly secured to the back andsides of said casing in spacednpart and staggered relation, a pluralityof open-ended trays one mounted on each of said supports and each havinga reticulated metal dam, a plurality of filtering cloths one mounted ineach of said trays, and means for preventing said filtering cloths fromsliding along said trays.

5. In filtering apparatus, the combination with a casing, of a pluralityof superposed frames securcd to said casing, removable trays havingscreen dams and open ends mounted on said frames, filtering material insaid trays, and door mechanism for closing the entire width of saidcasing.

6. In filtering apparatus, the combination with a storage receptaclehaving an opening in the upper end thereof, of a filter casing mountedover said opening, a recessed shelf in front of said casing in the upperend of said storage receptacle, door mechanism for the entire width ofsaid receptacle above said recessed shelf, and a plurality of filteringelements supported in said filter casing for independent and separatemovement thereof during the operation of the remainder.

7. A combined water separating and cleaning device for lubricating oilscomswinging above said collecting pan shelf when open.

8. In filtering apparatus the combination with a. receptacle, of aplurality of gravity filtering elements, means for supporting saidfiltering elements in superposed spaced-apart and staggered relation sothat oil filtered through one tray will drop to the next below and sothat any oil overflowing from one will pass to the nest below, and adoor for an opening in said receptacle in front of the outer edges ofthe tray, said opening rendering accessible all of said filteringelements.

9. In filtering apparatus, the combina tion with gravity and overflowfiltering elements of a receptacle, means for supporting said filteringelements in superposed spaced-apart and staggered relation, saidreceptacle having an opening in one vertical side thereof to renderaccessible said filtering elements, and a door closing said opening. I

10,. Filtering apparatus comprising a series o1 trays arranged one abovethe other and having filter material at their lower portions withupstanding walls around said filter material, one 01" said walls of eachtray having an external portion lower than the other walls providing apath for oil not passing through the filter material to the tray nextbelow. I 7

ll. In filtering apparatus, the combination with a receptacle having anopening in one vertical side thereof, of a plurality of gravity andoverflow filtering elements, and means for supporting said filteringelements in superposed spaced-apart staggered relation within saidreceptacle with each filtering element removable laterally through saidopening independently of the other filtering elements.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification on this80th day of (lune A. D. 1920.

lVlLLIAli/l W. NUGENT.

